1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fluid containers and more particularly to a beverage bottle with a container cap with a means for reversibly holding the container cap without replacing the cap on the bottle opening.
2. Description of Related Art
With the advent of larger individual serving beverage bottles, one frequently confronts the issue of what to do with the screw on bottle cap during the drinking process if one is intending to replace the cap when the beverage is only partially consumed. The cap is normally just put down in the nearest place or worse discarded and upon the need to replace the cap either a search ensues or one must wash the cap after retrieval from the garbage.
Another problem with the screw off bottle caps comes during recycling of bottles. It is typical that if the beverage is to be totally consumed that the cap becomes separated and almost never makes the recycling bin for most people. Since billions and billions of bottle caps are not recycled a significant environmental problem exists. While the problem does not exist for pop top cans because the tab stays with the can, no real significant solution is currently in use for bottle caps.
Several solutions have been suggested or are in limited use. One solution to the problems is to outfit a larger soda bottle with a dispensing means. This replaces the cap so the need to reseal with the cap is eliminated. Of course then the cap is disposed of and usually lost. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,111 to Sunnaborg, issued Apr. 1, 2003, there is described a bottle and valve system so that the larger bottles like 2 liter types can dispense liquid like a soda fountain. The original cap is removed and the invention provides no instructions with what to do with the original cap.
A bottle cap holder built into a bottle is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,106 to Takacs, issued Sep. 14, 1993. In this invention the bottle has a base with a cap well form in the base having a generally cylindrical shape and configured to receive the cap and hold it in place. The cap well is deeper than the cap is high and firmly grips the cap. While this holder solves some of the problems of the art, it is difficult to retrieve the cap with this holder, if one is going to reseal the beverage container. This is true even with the aid of the finger well also designed into this bottle cap holder for removing the cap. Accordingly, this design has not been adapted into commercial use.
In Japanese patent 2006-82875 there is described a means for holding a bottle cap comprising a clip mounted on the neck of a PET bottle. In Japanese patent 2004-175447 there is disclosed a bottle cap holder for a PET bottle comprising holder which attaches to the neck of the bottle and uses two parallel slits to hold a cap. The slits are spaced the width of the cap and press fit into place. The cap is held by its placement into the two troughs created.
It is clear that there is still a need for a solution to the problems of bottle caps which allow for ease of retrieval of the cap, yet also provide a means to attach the cap easily when disposing the beverage container.